Lexus Service and Repair Redwood City - History of the Lexus LFA - Bosch European Redwood City - 650-368-3000

Lexus LFA

There is no doubt the Toyota 2000GT was a message from the Japanese automobile manufacturer that they could build sports car to rival those of Europe.  The car was viewed by most as a high performance GT with luxurious interior.  It was used in multiple races in Japan and also broke several speed and endurance records, showing how Toyota was able to build high performance sports car with rock solid reliability.  Only 351 2000GT was built between 1967 and 1970 making it a highly collectable now.  

Almost 3 decades later, Toyota decided to enter the Formula One racing in 1999.  Similar to Honda, Toyota decided not to partner with other racing teams or chassis manufacturers, instead developing their own works team from ground up.  Although they did not win a Grand Prix before withdrawing from the sport in 2009, they took this opportunity to advance in sports car development.  It was exactly during this time that the LFA project received the green light in early 2000. 

As Toyota's premium brand, for the longest time Lexus vehicles have been labeled as luxurious vehicles without souls, and this has hurt Lexus demographics over the years as the average age of owners grew older.  To change that, Lexus has to make their cars more exciting and appealing to younger buyers - the LFA was the start.

 The LFA was a project with no budget in mind and took 10 years to finish.  When engineers discovered that the aluminum body was too heavy, years into the design, management threw in another pile of cash to explore carbon fiber technology.  They developed their own proprietary carbon fiber looming machines and a stronger aluminum flanged collar.  In the end, 65% of the structure is composed of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP), which is 200 lbs. lighter over an aluminum equivalent design.

 

The bespoke 552hp 4.8L 9000RPM V10 engine is equally impressive, smaller than most of the V8's on the market and weighs less than Lexus' own 3.5L V6.  The engine revs up so fast that no analog dial can track it fast enough. Prompting Lexus to implement a fancy TFT tachometer display, which also slides to unveil additional menu options.  With the engine up front and transaxle in the back, a rigid torque tube was developed.   Two lightweight titanium exhaust pipes staggered directly under the torque tube to keep weights close to the center.  The windshield washer fluid reservoir sits right next to the gas tank in the middle.  Even the door lock and window control buttons are placed along the center console instead of the door panels.  All these details help on weight distribution and put the driver close to the absolute center of the car.

Lexus also put in extra thoughts in the drive configuration.  They wanted to take advantage of the high traction and handling capability of a mid-engine design but also the stability and controllability of a front -engine design, so they went with a front-mounted engine and rear-mounted transaxle setup.  This allows the LFA to have a 48:52 front/rear weight distribution, giving it a more neutral feeling.

 

nlike the NSX, driving the LFA is a "fancy" experience.  Get into the cockpit and there are few steps before you can fire up the engine.  You run into an uncommon seat belt setup because of the integrated airbags.  After that you scramble for the mystery button to put the car in reverse, followed by the sequence to put it into the forward gear.

But really, one can totally look past all that when the start button is pressed and the sleeping V10 awakes with that angry roar.  Lexus wanted to make the LFA sound like a F1 and Yamaha truly delivered.  Not only did they design a special acoustically tuned intake surge tank and titanium exhaust, they even created several chambers to feed the incredible engine sound into the cabin.  At high RPMs it has that get-into-your-bone pitch, which still gives me goose bumps every time.  

The LFA is powerful and fast, but you get used to tossing it around at high speed fast.  Big part of this is due to the fantastic chassis design and drive configuration, but the Sport Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management (VDIM) system also comes into play.  This sophisticated system monitors various sensors and control systems including ABS, TRAC, and VSC to analyze the driving conditions and vehicle status.  Through its predictive logics and algorithms, it coordinates and actively corrects under- and over-steer, wheelspins, and stability.  Lexus adjusted the system specifically for the LFA to give driver more freedom and confidence in pushing the vehicle.  Instead of "saving" the car when it reaches the dynamic limits like most traction control systems do, the LFA Sports VDIM system actively predicts what's ahead and starts correcting right before the limits.

 

The LFA has some ridiculously good Carbon Ceramic Material Brembo brakes.  In fact, they are so powerful (yet linear) that I worry about cars behind not being able to stop fast enough.  Hard braking at high speeds gives the feeling like my eyeballs are being pulled out of their sockets.  I absolutely love it.

The LFA also features an electric power steering rack, but the gear ratio is substantially better than the NSX at 14.3:1 and it takes 2.35 to turn lock-to-lock.  So it does not matter if I am driving on local streets or highways, I never have to take my hands off the 3 and 9 o'clock positions of the steering wheel.

 

Transmission is probably what I feel most confused about.  People argue forever if the LFA should have a DCT instead but I think it's just a matter of choice.  Having good driving feedback is important and the LFA definitely delivers that.  Putting the car in Sport Mode and fastest shifting speed, and you want to make sure you don't cough up leftover lunch when flipping the shift pedal at redline.  But comparing to other supercars the LFA does shift relatively "slow" at 200ms.  Is it a big deal?  No.  But given how much attention Lexus has put in the LFA, I think there is room for improvement. 

 

Good thing with the transmission though is adjustability, allowing normal driving to be more pleasant with smoother shifting.  Throttles are also adjusted in different modes to aid driving characteristics on public roads, which I think is crucial in making the LFA such an easy car to drive. It also has cylinder deactivation in Normal Drive mode. 

The Black LFA I drove has 23,000 miles and the Yellow pre-production LFA has over 27,000 miles, mostly on the track or through demo, which means they are very hard driven miles.  When talking to the technician who is responsible for the maintenance, these cars only receive regular oil and brake pad changes (due to track use).  That says a lot about reliability.

Source: http://www.clublexus.com/articles/news/lexus-lfa-acura-nsx-two-decades-of-engineering-excellence.php

By Henry Kuo
photos by Eric Kieu

 

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